Differing DREAMs: Estimating the Unauthorized Populations that Could Benefit under Different Legalization Bills, Migration Policy Institute

Report Author:

Jeanne Batalova, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Sarah Pierce, and Randy Capps

Original Date of Publication:

2017 Oct

In 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The DACA program had granted protection from deportation and work authorization to unauthorized immigrants who arrived in the United States as children, also known as DREAMers. By mid-October 2017, multiple bills were introduced in response to this announcement including the Recognizing America's Children Act (RAC Act), the DREAM Act of 2017, the American Hope Act, the SUCCEED Act, and Border Security and Deferred Action Recipient Relief Act. This fact sheet by the Migration Policy Institute estimates how many DREAMers would benefit from each of these five legislative proposals. The charts show those initially eligible to apply, as well as those eligible to advance to legal permanent residence status after a period of conditional residence. The most generous bill, which would grant both eligibility and permanent residence to an estimated 3.6 million immigrants, is the American Hope Act. The least generous bill is the Succeed Act, which would enable 2 million people to apply, but only advance 1.3 million to permanent residence. Restrictive conditions for permanent residence include required postsecondary education, military service, and employment.